Eternal Dance
by Raigon
Summary: A one shot that was created during a black out. This is a world where things aren't so happy and cheerful, and pokemon are your best and worst friends.


The Eternal Dance

by Raigon

The sound of flames dance around her ...as she twirl and danced. As her feet skip from one motion of the advance dance to another, and her bangles around her feet seemed to crackle with the fire's light. Her grown twirled dangerously only missing alighting on her gown by mere fractions of a step. The sight beautiful and mystifying all at the same time. One had to wonder what the world would have been like if it all had turned out differently? Would she be there dancing now, would the stars still shine in the heavens, would fear and doubt chock the cities and towns so badly that the wildness became a haven. That such wild dances become norm to relieve everyone of such horrible fears for but a brief moment as she dances so close to the edge. An edge that they knew all too well of, that they lived in constant fear of ...as the flaunts her skill and art before that fear.

What was the world coming to?

This was the world that he had been born into. A world where wild beast had long since been tamed, and dub the name pokemon because of the ability to place such creatures in one pocket. It was a world out of a fairy tale, that like most had so much magic incoperated in every verse and in every word. For the power to change the elements, to shift the tide, and to bring earthquakes onto a land that had never seen such things could be said to be nothing more than magic. Magic that was seen as good when it was first learned and tamed. But, as many fairy tales end in tragedy as they did in happy ends, and for over a hundred years the world knew those happy days as peace. Though the storm of darkness and evil brew even then as mankind seeks more and more destructive usage for these creatures, for their power, and their magic. Thus it couldn't last forever, peace, the half-life that mankind would never be satisfied with even though it was more glorious than they could ever dream of themselves.

They wanted more.

Thus the half-life that promised a future where ordinarily their might not have been was shattered and this world was born. This broken world, where the creatures called pokemon hunted and killed humans with a vengeance that seemed without question nor end. Where the forests were safer after dark than the cities that the people have built. The pokmeon long since had learned of the dwellings and how to open them. How humans after dark couldn't see nor aim their weapons as well, and how those pokemon that had been tamed by them ...were easier to kill when they didn't have a human's voice to guide them.

It was in this world, that Marshall lived, and his partner a young vulpix curled up closer to him. She didn't have a pokeball, no she had fallen for him all of her free will, but because of that, she was no more than a pet even in the daylight. She stay by his side, and for that reason, he pledge to always be by hers. There were many whom didn't like his relationship with her. Told him that she belonged in a pokeball or not out at all, and he told them time and time again ...she was stronger this way. As a wild pokemon that was guided by a human hand, she was an example of the bridge they needed to reform. Of the times they needed to gain back, but more often then not he would find himself driven away from one area to the next. No one wanted a traitor in their midst, but, didn't want to awaken any further fury by killing him or the Vulpix to achieve the goal. Instead they threaten bodily harm, would show him their backs, and let the threats and isolation do it's job.

That was what had brought him here at last, and how he had ended up seeing her. The most beautiful creature he had seen ...short of his vulpix whom flicked her tails in a manner that suggested she wasn't in the least impressed.

Afterall, a vulpix is a creature of flames. She had no fear of the fire, and that dance though dangerous for a human was simply how a Vulpix would play. There was nothing special to her about this girl, but for Marshal, she was a sun shine in the rain. The flicks of gold as she twirl was more captivating than a beautiful mountain range, and more enticing then any food that could be offered to him. And thus he stared at her with love in his heart and lust in his eyes for the first time in his short life. Maybe, it was this open staring that brought the question about as the first man walked up to him and said in a voice that was rusty and dry.

"Is that Vulpix yours?"

Marshall looked at him and replied back.

"No, she is as free as the day she was born."

It was his normal answer, and it got the normal response as people whom overheard the conversation moved away as if burnt. Their eyes wide in fear and hatred of the little vixen as she simply turned and licked her pelt. This wasn't anything new to either of them, but then a loud ouch was heard to take away the attention. The girl in the flames had overheard as well, and she had stopped her dance long enough to be burnt. The flames catching upon her gown as that ouch soon turned into a scream as she realized it. The man whom sat around the fire was quick to release his capture charge to extinguish the flames.

A dangerous task at night, because, pokemon could never tell one trail of smoke from another. They didn't know if it was a fire type or not that made that smoke, but the thick black clouds of one being extinguish was clear. It was clearly human, for no water type would attack a fire type ...in the dead of night when they should be hunting.

This was the alarm that would sound ...as they looked at the man whom have moved to save her. Instinct had taken over common sense, because, in this world of darkness it was better to have let her burn to death than to save her from those flames. This was the danger of that dance, and everyone's face when taunt with fear and understanding as mothers were the first to react. They grabbed their children and went to flee into the forest. Their items lost or forgotten with the need to save their own skins, and Marshall understood all too well what would happen next as he moved to his own survival plan

He didn't run away, he instead climbed up to the top of the tree. He knew there was a horrible chances that he might be spotted there, but then again...the smoke would make it harder to breathe and see the higher he went up. If that was the case with him, then he knew that the pokemon would have the same problem. To add to the confusion, the thick smoke would also make it impossible to scent him ...as he went upwards quickly. His friend, his partner Vulpix had too much human scent on her to try and play this off either. She lunged and dug her claws into the back of his jacket, something she was used to doing and moved until she had managed to get into the hoody that hung from the back of it. This would be her safe spot as the girl whom was burnt stood there in shock still.

In another time, in another place ...Marshall would have looked back at her. He would have seen her standing there and grabbed her hand to take her upwards into the trees with him. Into the safety of the pines and the heavy smoke that made his eyes water and his throat burn. But, the boy didn't live in another time, and he didn't look back as he climbed for his life and his safety. If a pokemon didn't run directly into him, if he didn't pass out from the smoke, they would be alright ...as he climbed further upwards before the first scream would go through the air.

For pokemon were many things, but slow wasn't a name for them. For moves like quick attack and agility gave them a burst of speed that no human could hope to out run or flee from. The people around that fire already knew they would all be dead before the sun rose, but still they tried to escape any way. It would last until the first light of dawn, their screams and cries ...as the boy with the Vulpix held on with her help. She would when he seemed to slack in his hold ...crawl free of the hoody and bite him on the hand ...on the arm anywhere to keep him conscious and by the light of the next dawn it was clear. He wouldn't have survived the night without here as he bleed from various bites, those would heal, and he cough heavily. That was much worst damage, and it would be days before his breathing was set right.

But that was nothing compared to the carnage below as the light broke through the darkness and the smoke gone now ...allowed him to see the full damage of what had been done just below him. Huge paw prints scored the earth, the paw prints that belonged to the cousins of his Vulpix. A Arcanine or be more precise a pack, they must have been just in the city and using moves like extreme speed ...to arrive so quickly. He had probably just barely managed to avoid his death by climbing into the tree.

The blood that marked the area was clear.

Though there was so much carnage, that he was sure, he couldn't help noticing even in that world of painted red ...a single golden bang that had been on the girl's leg. The sun light reflected off of it making it shine like the sun for a moment before a blood splash from one of the smaller bushes nearby would forever hid that golden shine. Splotched with blood, he didn't have to guess he would never see that beautiful fire dancer again. A small whimper of sympathy from his partner as he reaches over to rub her ears.

No, if this wasn't the world that he knew of today ...he never would have met her. He never would have seen her dance in those wild embers of flames, nor would any one had thought it such a stress reliever to see someone play so dangerous with fire and their lives. No, if this had been a different world, the Vulpix on his shoulder probably would have still been a wild pokemon, and he wouldn't have ever met her. He would have a home, and never had to roam from place to place. No, if this wasn't the world wasn't this way, those people wouldn't be dead, and his heart wouldn't be broken as he thought of her body torn apart. If this wasn't the world he lived in, he wouldn't be the same. And this seemingly eternal dance would have never begun, and those wild nights and calm mornings would never be. No this eternal dance of war ...would still be nothing more than a nightmare of those peaceful dreams. Of the half-life that was probably more forfilling than this full life they lived now. Those peaceful days long pass and gone, and that bangle that now painted red ...why did they want more when they had everything they could ever hope to obtain? Why must he suffer for the sins of the past? Why can't they figure out someway to make a brighter future ...to end this dance eternal? Why?

Marshall made one sad sound then, and like he had so many times before ...the boy and vulpix slide down from the tree and moved on. For the eternal dance wouldn't end, simply because he decided he no longer wanted to take part in it.

THE END.


End file.
